Building Free Life: Dialogues with calan

by International Initiative International Initiative (Editor), International Initiative "Freedom for Abdullah ïcalan-Peace in Kurdistan" (Editor), David Graeber, John Holloway, Antonio Negri

Overview

Abdullah Öcalan’s prison writings have mobilized thousands, inspired a budding revolution in northern Syria, and penetrated the insular walls of academia. But how do you engage in a meaningful dialogue with someone held in isolation since April 2015? You compile a book of essays  written by the most imaginative luminaries of our time, send it to Öcalan’s jailers, and hope that they deliver it to him. Building Free Life stands as a monument of radical thought, a testament of resilience, and a searchlight illuminating the impulse for freedom. Contributors include Radha D’Souza, David Graeber, John Holloway, Raúl Zibechi, Antonio Negri, Immanuel Wallerstein, Andrej Grubacic, Nazan Üstündag, Peter Lamborn Wilson, Norman Paech, Donald H. Matthews, Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Damian Gerber, Shannon Brincat, Patrick Huff, Ekkehard Sauermann, and Mechthild Exo.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629637044
Publisher:	PM Press
Publication date:	02/15/2020
Series:	Kairos
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

International Initiative “Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan—Peace in Kurdistan” is a multinational peace initiative for the release of Abdullah Öcalan and a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question. It was established immediately after his abduction from Nairobi and handing over to the Republic of Turkey on February 15, 1999, following a clandestine operation by an alliance of secret services. Part of its activity is the publication of Abdullah Öcalan’s works.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

International Initiative

Section I Introductions, Backgrounds, Postscripts

1 Jumping on the Bus John Holloway 9

2 Öcalan, European Law, and the Kurdish Question Norman Paech 11

3 A Grand and Comprehensive Dialogue Ekkehard Sauermann 19

4 Preface to The Road Map Immanuel Wallerstein 36

5 Prologue to Abdullah Öcalan's The Road Map to Negotiations Arnaldo Otegi 40

6 From World System to Democratic Civilization Barry K. Gills 45

7 "A Prisoner Who Is Becoming Mythical" Antonio Negri 49

Section II The Roots of Civilization

8 Abdullah Öcalan Peter Lamborn Wilson 55

9 Öcalan's Manifesto and the Challenge of Transcending Centricity Donald H. Matthews Thomas Jeffrey Miley 67

10 Historiography, Gender, and Resistance Muriel González Athenas 85

Section III Weaving and Linking

11 Reading Öcalan as a South Asian Woman Radha D'Souza 103

12 "There Can Be No Utopia or Reality That Is More Ambitious Than This": The Democratic Modernism of Svetozar Markovic and Abdullah Ocalan Andrej Grubacic 119

13 Imaginary Dialogues with Öcalan: Updating Critical Thinking Raúl Zibechi 134

Section IV Political Philosophy and Political Action

14 Making Connections: Jineolojî, Women's Liberation, and Building Peace Mechthild Exo 147

15 Öcalan as Thinker: On the Unity of Theory and Practice as Form of Writing David Graeber 167

16 Rojava or the Art of Transition in a Collapsing Civilization Fabian Scheidler 191

17 When Öcalan Met Bookchin: The Kurdish Freedom Movement and the Political Theory of Democratic Confederalism Damian Gerber Shannon Brincat 199

18 Re-enchantment of the Political: Abdullah Öcalan, Democratic Confederalism, and the Politics of Reasonableness Patrick Huff 216

19 The Theology of Democratic Modernity: Labor, Truth, and Freedom Nazan Üstündag 235

20 Power and Truth: Analytics of Power and Nomadic Thought as Fragments of a Philosophy of Liberation Michael Panser 261

Afterword Abdullah Öcalan 268

Index 271

Publications Abdullah Öcalan in English 281

Editorial Reviews

Öcalan’s works make many intellectuals uncomfortable because they represent a form of thought that is not only inextricable from action, but also directly grapples with the knowledge that it is.”
—David Graeber, author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years

“Öcalan’s writings written in captivity are thus in the tradition of the ideology of the PKK as a left national liberation movement, which also includes the claim to change their own society. However, Öcalan is apparently also one of those whose political thinking was sharpened by the forced abstinence from daily politics and who succeed in further developing their political thinking in captivity.”
—Thomas Schmidinger, author of The Battle for the Mountain of the Kurds: Self-Determination and Ethnic Cleansing in the Afrin Region of Rojava

“Öcalan’s plea to build a strong and complex self-organized civil society without taking direct action against the state is similar to Zapatismo in Chiapas.… Finally, Karl Marx’s realization should be remembered: ‘An idea becomes material violence when it seizes the masses.’ And Abdullah Öcalan’s message has seized the masses in Kurdistan.”
—Nikolaus Brauns, historian and journalist, author of Partisanen einer neuen Welt: Eine Geschichte der Linken und Arbeiterbewegung der Türkei

“Where else would you expect to find a world-class political genius than… prison? And I don’t use the word ‘genius’ lightly.”
—Peter Lamborn Wilson, author of Ploughing the Clouds and Sacred Drift

“Öcalan is the Gramsci of our time.”
—Tamir Bar-On, author of The World through Soccer and Beyond Soccer

From the Publisher